Confronting Climate Change as a University

President of Harvard University, Drew Faust, sent a letter earlier today discussing the University’s rule in confronting and responding to climate change. President Faust explained that “Harvard has a vital leadership role to play in this work,” and discussed much of the exciting scientific research being done by university students and professors. Under a link to Research, the president included a link to our environmental law program at HLS, which highlights our terrific faculty, as well as our outstanding environmental clinic and our new policy shop, all of which are doing groundbreaking work on climate law and policy. As noted in The Harvard Law Today piece about the environmental law program, HLSELP addresses climate change on three fronts: first, by training law students to be leaders in the field through a broad-based curriculum, second through our faculty’s legal scholarship which focuses on how legal and regulatory regimes might be adapted to address climate change, and third by engaging students practically in two ways: through opportunities to work on a diverse set of client projects related to clean energy in our environmental law clinic, and via our Policy Initiative, which provides nonpartisan legal analysis and policy advice to federal and state agencies. The Law School’s burgeoning program on climate and energy is one of the University’s great strengths in this area, and we are committed to being a key part of President Faust’s vision for the University going forward.